For many years personal checks, travelers checks, money orders, traditional currency and the like were the most popular means for paying for goods or services. These payment means, however, were often difficult or impossible to replace if lost or stolen. Moreover, since the traditional means of payment were made of lightweight material and were somewhat disposable, the traditional means of payment were not easy to store and/or guard against theft. In addition, these means of payment were somewhat disposable in that they were typically single-use devices, meaning that once the devices were used, the ability to reuse the devices was instantly lost to the user.
As such, recent years has seen the development of transaction cards, such as credit cards, debit cards, smart cards, pre-paid cards and the like as a popular substitute for traditional means of payment. In general, a transaction card is about the size of a driver's license, business card or the like making the transaction card easier to guard against theft by storing it. Additionally, the transaction card is typically made of plastic, and not meant to be exchanged for goods or services. That is, the cardholder may negotiate a transaction involving goods or services while maintaining control of the transaction card for later re-use.
To facilitate the transaction, the transaction card may include a unique identifier which may be retrieved from the card and/or presented to a merchant for payment. The transaction card unique identifier may be associated, linked, or correlated with a funding source, such as a bank, credit account, debit account, line of credit, or the like, which may contain a value (e.g., credit, monetary, etc.) for use in the payment. Such a funding source may typically be managed by a transaction card provider.
When the transaction card is presented to a merchant for payment of goods or services, the merchant may verify the validity of the card, the identity of the cardholder, and whether the associated funding source may be used for purchases. If authorized, the merchant may contact the transaction card provider and receive funds from the funding source for payment in accordance with the value of the transaction.
It should be noted, however, that transaction cards are not limited to use as substitute currency. A transaction card may be an information carrier including means for storing and presenting information. One such transaction card may be a smart card which includes circuitry which may be used to store and transfer information relevant to the cardholder. For example, information such as the cardholder's address, medical history, transaction history or the like, may be stored on a database contained on the transaction card. The cardholder may present the card to a transaction card reader (e.g., smart card reader) so that the information contained thereon may be retrieved as needed.
For the transaction card provider, transaction cards are preferred because the cardholder often must subscribe to a membership plan managed by the provider. This, in turn, gives the provider greater access to the cardholder. For example, the provider may use a membership list compiled from the subscriptions to encourage purchase of the provider's goods and services. A provider may use its membership list to encourage use through use based incentive programs. Alternatively, to generate revenue, the provider may charge the cardholder a nominal fee for use of the provider's transaction card services. In either case, the transaction card represents an additional means of generating revenue by establishing an easily accessible, ready made customer base for the transaction card provider.
The advantages to a transaction card provider have not gone unnoticed. That is, because of the increased popularity and benefits associated with transaction cards, many banking and financing institutions, department stores, petroleum companies and other organizations have developed their own transaction cards for use by the organization's consumers. Today, virtually every major provider of goods and services has its own unique transaction card such that hundreds of millions of transaction cards are now produced and issued annually.
The proliferation of cards has given the consumer many choices on which card the consumer may choose to carry and use. The multitude of choices has given rise to competition amongst individual card providers to encourage use of the provider's transaction card over one issued by a provider's competitors.
In response to this competition, transaction card providers have developed cards including different shapes and appearances which are designed to encourage use of their card and to distinguish their card from other cards on the market. For example, as disclosed in U.S. Application Publication No. U.S. 2003/0014891 A1, entitled “Non-rectangular shaped credit card with case,” filed Feb. 27, 2002, Discover Financial Services has released its teardrop Discover 2GO card which permits the cardholder to swivel the transaction card free from a similarly shaped plastic key case. Discover Financial Services developed their 2GO card to encourage consumers to enroll in membership of it services by providing the cardholder with a more convenient method of presenting the transaction card for payment and for storing the transaction card upon completion of a transaction.
Other transaction card providers are encouraging use of their transaction cards by providing unique means of ensuring secure card usage. For example, traditional security means such as personal identification numbers (PINs) and security signature stripes may be combined with photographs of the cardholder, a hologram, or other graphic images visible on a surface of the transaction card. In one such case, an image may be included in a diffraction grating to produce a holographic image on the card surface. The incorporation of holograms onto transaction cards provides a more reliable method of determining the authenticity of the transaction card in ordinary white light, namely by observing if the hologram has the illusion of depth and changing of colors. Thus, use of the holograms may minimize the ability to fraudulently copy or reproduce the transaction card, since the holographic images are produced using extremely complex steps and highly expensive equipment.
Still other transaction card providers attempt to encourage usage of a particular card by personalizing the card thereby making the card more aesthetically pleasing. For example, the card may include a logo, picture, apparition, or the like which holds some sentimental or endearing value to the user. In addition, the transaction card provider may agree to contribute a percentage of an overall purchase to a charity or organization in which the user has an interest. In either case, the user is encouraged to use a particular transaction card since the card includes an aspect with which the user personally identifies.
Some transaction card providers have addressed the aesthetics of their cards by attempting to produce a transparent or translucent transaction card. That is, the transaction card may be constructed such that the cardholder may view objects though the card body. Where the card includes internally placed electrical circuitry, such as, for example, databases, transmitters, receivers, antennas, and/or microcontrollers, the internal circuitry may be viewed by the cardholder through casual inspection of the card surface.
As noted, consumers presently have many options for deciding which transaction cards to use. To encourage wide use of transaction cards, the International Standards Organization (“ISO”) developed standards governing size and shape of the transaction card which are often adhered to by the myriads of transaction card providers. For example, the transaction card's physical dimensions, features and embossing area were standardized under ISO 7810 and ISO 7811. The issuer's identification, the location of particular compounds, coding requirements, and recording techniques were standardized in ISO 7812 and ISO 7813, while chip card standards for smart cards were established in ISO 7813.
ISO 7811 defines the standards for the magnetic stripe. In accordance with ISO 7811, the magnetic stripe must be a 0.5 inch stripe located either in the front or rear surface of the card. The magnetic stripe is divided into three (3) longitudinal parallel tracks. The first and second tracks hold read-only information with room for 79 alphanumeric characters and 40 numeric characters, respectively. The third track is reserved for financial transactions and includes enciphered versions of the user's personal identification number, country code, currency units, amount authorized per cycle, subsidiary accounts, and restrictions. More information regarding the features and specifications of transaction cards can be found in, for example, Smart Cards by Jose Luis Zoreda and Jose Manuel Oton, 1994; Smart Card Handbook by W. Ranki and W. Effing, 1997, and the various ISO standards for transaction cards available from ANSI (American National Standards Institute), 11 West 42nd Street, New York, N.Y. 10036, the entire contents of all of these publications are herein incorporated by reference.
The incorporation of machine-readable components onto transaction cards encouraged the proliferation of devices for automatically reading from and/or writing onto transaction cards. Such devices, sometimes called “card acceptance devices” herein, include, for example, bar code scanners, magnetic stripe readers, point of sale terminals (POS), automated teller machines (ATM) and card-key devices.
Many of the card acceptance devices are configured such that the transaction card is inserted into the device. The card is inserted such that the device can appropriately align its reading head with the relevant component of the transaction card for retrieving information. For example, many ATMs are configured such that a transaction card must be substantially inserted into a slot for reading. The ATM typically includes an additional mechanical device for further retracting the transaction card into the ATM slot after insertion of the card into the slot. Alternatively, the cardholder may be asked to insert the card into a slot (or swipe the card) and quickly remove the card to activate the ATM.
To aid in activation of the ATM, a sensor is included in the ATM for detecting the presence of the card. For example, the sensor may include a phototransistor and a light emitting diode (LED) such as those produced, for example, by Omron and Sankyo-Seeiki of Japan, 4800 Great America Parkway, Suite 201, Santa Clara, Calif. The LED may emit light onto a surface of the phototransistor which may receive the light from the LED. A card is detected by the sensor when the card substantially interferes with the receipt of the light by the phototransistor. That is, upon insertion into the ATM and into the transmission path of the light emitted from the LED to the phototransistor, the card blocks the infrared radiation from the LED, therefore indicating that a card has been detected.
A typical LED in an ATM is an IRED (infrared emitting diode) source having a wavelength in the range of about 820-920 nm or 900-1000 nm (see FIG. 5), which is not present in ambient light at the levels needed by a phototransistor sensor. The spectral sensitivity curve of the typical phototransistor is in the range of about 400 nm-1100 nm. However, the visible spectrum is about 400 nm-700 nm, and the spectral sensitivity of the phototransistor is about 60% at 950 nm and 90% at 840 nm. Thus, visible light is not part of the analog-to-digital algorithm and therefore, is not effective for activating a phototransistor. Moreover, ISO 7810 stand, clause 8.10 requires that all machine readable cards have an optical transmission density from 450 nm-950 nm, greater than 1.3 (less than 5% transmission) and from 950 nm-1000 nm, greater than 1.1 (less than 7.9% transmission).
As noted, for the card to be detected by the ATM, the light emitted from the LED interrupted, re-directed or blocked by the card body. However, the amount of light necessary to be blocked by a card for activation of the ATM is related to the voltage data received from the analog to digital conversion performed in part by the phototransistor. The voltage range of the sensor is typically in a range of about 1.5V to 4.5V. When a card is inserted into a sensor, the voltage drops to less than 1.5V indicating the presence of a card in the transport system. After the card is detected by the phototransistor, the magnetic stripe reader scans the card body and acquires the information recorded on the magnetic stripe.
As previously mentioned, transaction cards and card acceptance devices are subject to various ISO standards which are designed to make card usage more desirable since the card may be used interchangeably with card acceptance devices produced by different manufacturers. One aspect of the card acceptance device which has thus far escaped standardization however is the location of the sensor. It should be noted that heretofore varying locations of the sensor within the ATM did not affect the ability of the ATM to sense the transaction card because the transaction card included a substantially opaque surface. Thus, any portion of the opaque transaction card could interrupt the IRED emission and activate the insert phototransistor.
More recently, however, companies have attempted to develop transparent or translucent transaction cards to meet consumer demands for uniqueness in transaction card appearance. Conventional transparent transaction cards include problems in that the transparent transaction cards often not activate the insert phototransistor because the IRED emission would not sufficiently reflect off a transparent surface. That is the radiation would simply travel through the card and become detected by the phototransistor. The machine, therefore, could not detect the presence of the card and the card often jammed the equipment.
In an attempt to solve this problem, card providers have printed opaque areas onto transparent cards in an effort to provide an opaque area to activate the input sensors on ATMs. However, due to the aforementioned variations in the location of the sensor in many ATMs, the use of limited opaque areas on a transparent card did not allow the card to activate the sensor in a sufficient number of ATMs.
In another attempt to solve the problem, the card providers have incorporated a lens onto a transaction card for redirecting the LED light in similar manner as if the card were opaque. However, the lens often did not survive the card fabrication process, which often involves substantial pressure and heat, the lensing surface would be disrupted or destroyed.
Furthermore, during the card fabrication process, the cards typically must be detected on the assembly line in order to accurately count the number of cards produced during a predetermined time interval. To count the cards, typical card fabrication assembly lines include counters with LED sensors, similar to the ATM sensors, which count the cards based upon the reflection of the LED light beam off of the opaque card surface. The production of transparent transaction cards suffers from similar limitations as ATM devices in that the LED beam does not reflect or is not sufficiently absorbed from a transparent surface.
Although existing systems may allow for the identification and detection of transparent cards, most contain a number of drawbacks. For example, identification features based on UV, visible light detection, etc., are sometimes difficult to view, often require certain lighting requirements and typically depend on the distance between the article and the detection device. Further, the use of certain types of plastic, paper or other material which contain the identification mark may be limited by the particular identification device. For example, opaque materials typically deactivate the phototransistors in ATM's by blocking light in both the visible (near IR) and far IR light regions.
Although it is important for transparent transaction cards to be detected by a machine, especially a machine such as an ATM whereby the card is entered to conduct a transaction, it can be quite inconvenient for a user to utilize a machine, or to otherwise manipulate a transaction card in a merchant POS card reader or the like. This requires the physical manipulation of the card, and typically requires a transaction card owner to relinquish control of the transaction card to a merchant for swiping the card or otherwise entering the card into a machine. By having to physically enter a transaction card into a machine, or to physically slide a transaction card through a card reader, much time is wasted that could be better spent by a merchant or by a consumer thereby prolonging the transaction experience. In addition, when a user of a transaction card conducts a transaction, a representative of the merchant is typically necessary to be present to conduct the transaction. Thus, a need exists for a transaction card that allows a consumer to conduct a transaction without needing a representative of the merchant to be present.
To address the inconvenience associated with relinquishing the transaction card to a merchant representative, card providers are increasingly incorporating technology enabling the card to be used in a contactless environment. One such method involves incorporating an RFID system inside the card body. Like barcode and voice data entry, RFID is a contactless information acquisition technology. RFID systems are wireless, and are usually extremely effective in hostile environments where conventional acquisition methods fail. As such, RFID technology has established itself in a wide range of markets, such as, for example, the high-speed reading of railway containers, tracking moving objects such as livestock or automobiles, and retail inventory applications. As can be understood, RFID technology has become a primary focus in automated data collection, identification and analysis systems worldwide.
In general, a typical RFID system may include an transaction card antenna in communication with a transaction card transponder, and a RFID reader for providing an interrogation signal to the transponder and receiving cardholder information stored on the transaction card. The transponder may be powered by the interrogation signal which is received by the transaction card antenna. The fob may exist independent of an internal power source. In some instances, a battery may be included on the card to power the transponder. In which case the internal circuitry of the fob (including the transponder) may draw its operating power from the battery power source. In this instance the internal circuitry of the fob (including the transponder) may gain its operating power directly from an RF interrogation signal.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,053,774 issued to Schuermann describes a typical transponder RF interrogation system which may be found in the prior art. The Schuermann patent describes in general the powering technology surrounding conventional transponder structures. U.S. Pat. No. 4,739,328 discusses a method by which a conventional transponder may respond to a RF interrogation signal. Other typical modulation techniques which may be used include, for example, ISO/IEC 14443 and the like. One typical example of a RFID technology used to complete a transaction is included in U.S. application Ser. No. 10/192,488 entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PAYMENT USING RADIO FREQUENCY IDENTIFICATION IN CONTACT AND CONTACTLESS TRANSACTIONS” Filed Jul. 9, 2002, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
One of the more visible uses of the RFID technology is found in the introduction of Exxon/Mobil's Speedpass®, Shell's EasyPay®) and American Express' ExpressPay products. These products use RFID transponders placed in a fob or tag which enables automatic identification of the user when the fob is presented at a Merchant Point of Sale (POS) device. Fob identification data is typically passed to a third party server database, where the identification data is referenced to a customer (e.g., user) credit or debit account. In an exemplary processing method, the server seeks authorization for the transaction by passing the transaction and account data to an authorizing entity (e.g., card provider). Once authorization is received by the server, clearance is sent to the point of sale device for completion of the transaction.
It should be noted, however, that up until now, RFID technology has not been successfully incorporated into a transparent transaction card. This is because, conventional methods of transparent card manufacture often damages the card internal circuitry, disenabling the cards capability to be used in a contactless environment. Thus, a need exist for a transparent transaction card which is additionally capable of effective and consistent contactless environment usage.